Sex determination, also called Prenatal Sex Discernment is an act of determining the sex of foetus before birth. Sex determination is carried out as prenatal diagnosis to detect birth defects such as neural tube defects, Down syndrome, chromosome abnormalities and genetic diseases. It is mainly helpful in detecting harmful disorders like spina bifida, cleft palate, Tay Sachs disease, sickle cell anemia, thalassemia, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, and fragile X syndrome.
Sex selective abortion is a negative aspect of Sex determination, where pregnancy is aborted or terminated depending on the sex of the baby, irrespective of the cause for which it is performed.
According to WHO, roughly 115,000 unborn human beings are killed every day by abortion worldwide, i.e. approximately 42 million per year (0.01 of total world’s population is dying before birth). Even, United States is not an exceptional for this deadly procedure. United States is the only industrialized Country that does not restrict Sex selective abortion, performed solely because of the gender of a child.
Sex selective abortion is most common in Asia affecting female fetuses, especially in developing countries of middle east, where cultural norms value male children over female children. Holding world’s 45% population, China & India are facing this deadly female foeticide action. Sex-selective abortion was causing the loss of 500,000 girls a year in India, where it is double in China. Cultural preferences, sexual discrimination, one-child Policy are said to be major reasons for Sex-selective abortions in these countries.
Sex-selective abortion became a serious issue leading to worsening of the sex ratio. It was estimated that there could be more than 35 million young “surplus males” in China and 25 million in India by 2020.